


Literary Dreams

by afteriwake



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-16
Updated: 2012-07-16
Packaged: 2017-11-10 01:39:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/460811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She would never have believed he thought of her that way. Were her profiling skills <i>that</i> rusty after four years away, or was Morgan just really good at hiding things?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Literary Dreams

She’d been gone four years. Decided to take the time away from the FBI to travel, do the things she’d wanted to do when she was young. She took classes at a local college for fun, and set about writing a book. The book was coming along harder than she’d thought. She didn’t know how Rossi had done it, writing all those books. Of course, he was writing what he knew: profiling. She wanted to avoid it.

She still saw the team occasionally, some members more than others. When Hotch had married Beth she’d been invited to the wedding and had had a blast with her old friends, but during the reception a call had come in and everyone but Hotch had had to go. She remembered going up to him and him thanking her for being able to stay. It was telling, that at one of the worst times and one of the best, the team had to put work before him. She was glad she wasn’t in that life anymore.

She had decided to try her hand at writing a series with a female Interpol agent, drawing on her experience with that agency. She peppered the book with characters that were based on her friends. There was Vivian Langer, the eccentric but lovable computer hacker; Arthur Downing, the lead interrogator who was smooth as silk; Mark Lowe, the head of the team; Chris Gilbert, the resident genius, and of course the lead agent, Katherine Marks, based on her and JJ. She was still trying to figure out a character based on Derek, but she figured it would come soon enough. In the four years she’d been gone, she managed to get it about halfway done. Now she wanted someone to read it.

It was during her weekly coffee date with Garcia that she mentioned the book. Garcia got all excited and said she should show it to her. Garcia said she loved those kinds of books, and really wanted to know more about the character based on her. She printed out what she’d written and brought it to the next coffee date. The following week, Garcia gave her a glowing report and some constructive criticism on how the hacking should really be done.

“So can I have it back?” she asked Garcia when she was done.

“I kind of let Morgan read it,” she said.

“Garcia…” Emily said, burying her head in her hands. “There isn’t a character based on him in it yet.”

“I know, but he loves these kinds of books! Who do you think I talk to about it?” she said. “He’ll love it regardless of the fact that there’s no one based on him.”

“Guess I’ll find out what he thinks Saturday,” she said with a sigh.

“Ooh, what’s happening Saturday?” Garcia asked.

“He called and asked me if I’d like to grab dinner with him. Said he missed me.”

“He does miss you. A lot,” Garcia said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to hang out with you more often.”

“I already see him once every couple of weeks,” she said. Garcia looked awkward for a second. “What is it, Garcia?”

“He went through a bad break-up a couple months ago and got really drunk. Ended up at my place. Kevin was there and he felt he needed to have a ‘man to man’ talk about how women should be treated. It ended with him admitting he felt he blew his chance with you years ago.”

Her eyes went wide. “Wait. What?”

“When you came back after you faked your death he wanted to ask you out, and then you left and he thought he might actually have a chance since you weren’t working at the BAU anymore, but you said you didn’t want anything to do with that life and he thought you meant him too.” She took a deep breath. “For a profiler he can be kind of stupid, I think.”

“He likes me? Like that?” she asked, shocked.

“ _Massive_ crush. But don’t tell him I told you.” She closed her mouth, pressed her thumb and pointer fingers together and ran them across her lips. 

“I won’t,” she said, trying to shake the shock. Derek Morgan liked her in a more than friendly way? Was she that bad at reading guys that she hadn’t noticed? That was kind of a blow to her, that she could be oblivious to something like that. She had prided herself on her observational skills and she couldn’t even tell that one of her best friends had a crush on her. Unless he was really really good at hiding it.

She finished up the coffee date with Garcia and went home. She stared at her computer screen in an attempt to write some more, but nothing was coming. All she was thinking about was the fact that Morgan had had a crush on her. She had to admit he was attractive. Maybe not her type but still _very_ attractive. And he was nice; of all the people that she had met, she knew without a doubt that Morgan was one of the best men she’d ever known. Would it be so very bad to go out with him on a date? Should she look at Saturday as a date? She stared at her computer screen for a long while before turning her computer off. There wouldn’t be any writing today.

It was three days later when she began to write again. She came up with an FBI agent, David Matthews, and tossed him into her mix, basing him on Morgan. She ignored her phone and everything else and when she finished for the night she could see he was shaping up to be the love interest. It fit the book, and she realized that maybe it would fit her. She wrote more the next day and by the time Saturday night and her dinner with Morgan rolled around she had written five new chapters. She printed them out and brought them with her.

It was good to see him again, and he greeted her with a smile and a hug. He’d already gotten them a table, and she sat across from him. The waiter came and took their drink orders, and then she smiled at him. “I finally got a character based on you in the book,” she said, pulling the pages out of her purse.

“Can’t wait to read it. I love what you’ve written so far,” he said with a grin as he took the pages.

“I think you’ll enjoy it,” she said. Then their drink orders came and they got down to the business of having a nice evening together. As the dessert came he got a call. He sighed and took the call. “Have to go?” she asked as he finished the call.

He nodded. “That was Garcia. We have a case in Beaufort, South Carolina.”

“Sounds like fun,” she said.

He put some cash on the table to cover the meal. “I know what I’ll be reading when I get some down time,” he said. He went over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for the good company.”

“You’re welcome,” she said with a smile. He left, and she finished her dessert and went home. She wrote some more, then called it a night. It was eight hours later when her phone rang. She saw the number and shook her head slightly. “Hello, Derek,” she said with a yawn.

“I got to read the new pages,’ he said.

“What did you think?” she asked.

“Were you trying to send me a message?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said with a slight smile. “Did you figure it out?”

“You might actually be interested in me?” he asked.

“That’s the one,” she said.

“How…?”

“A friend told me,” she said.

“I’m going to kill Garcia,” he said.

“No, don’t. Then I lose my source of gossip,” she said. “I’ll admit I was surprised when she told me, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought maybe if I started dating again I’d see if you were available.” She paused. “Are you?”

“Yes,” he said.

“So…when you come back, want to try a real date?” she asked.

“I think I’d like that,” he said.

“Good. Call me when you get back in town.”

“I will,” he said. “Oh, one more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“I really like my character. He better end up with Katherine in the end.”

She laughed. “That was the plan.”

“Well, good night, Emily. Or good morning, I guess.”

“Bye, Derek,” she said with a chuckle. She hung up and then curled up in her bed. This might be one of the best decisions she’d ever made, she thought to herself.


End file.
